The inability to prevent two major Maoist attacks in Dantewada within a month has set the stage for heads to roll in the CRPF. A lack of coordination between the Central Task Force Commander and the Chhattisgarh police chief,the casual approach of the top brass and now the possible involvement of a CRPF DIG in the smuggling of arms from the Rampur armoury to the Naxals caps a series of incidents plaguing the paramilitary force . The first indication of things to come was evident from the frosty meeting that Home Minister P Chidambaram had when he landed up at the CRPF Delhi headquarters for a discussion,analysis and strategic planning of the E N Rammohan report on the Dantewada massacre on May 12. Despite a clear-cut brief,the Home Ministers attention was diverted by the CRPF Director General Vikram Srivastava,who showed Chidambaram 82 slides in promotion of the Forces anti-Naxal operations. Senior officials present in the meeting said that Chidambaram gave a dressing down to the top brass,particularly Srivastava,as it was evident that the top brass had not done its homework and there had been a command and control failure . While the internal security establishment does not doubt the credentials of Srivastava when it comes to the welfare of his troops,his ability to handle operations has been called into question. The Home Ministry is thinking of a clean-up of the CRPF and the man they have in mind for the task is Vijay Kumar,a 1975 batch officer who is the current Director of the National Police Academy,even as the Army brass has raised eyebrows over the way operations were handled in these two incidents. The Army conveyed to the Home Ministry that even basic operational procedures were not taken into account as SPOs were allowed to travel in a bus on a kuccha (a favourite for planting IED devices) road without any road opening parties (ROP) clearing the road. Matters have been complicated by the clash of egos and lack of coordination between Central Task Force Commander Vijay Raman,a 1975 batch officer,and Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwaranjan,a batchmate of the CRPF DG,on the anti-Naxal operations. With each singing his own tune,there is hardly any synergy between the state police and the CRPF and the advantage automatically lies with the marauding Naxalites. Both the Intelligence Bureau and the Army have taken a dim view of Raman but this could be because of Vishwaranjan being a former IB man and Raman serving a long tenure with the BSF in the Valley. To add to their woes,the CRPF,due to lack of command and control from the top and with the senior officers on deputation hardly ever taking stock of the ground situation,does not appear to be a cohesive fighting unit. With a number of senior IPS officers using the postings at headquarters as a sinecure,the government is even thinking of carving out the anti-Naxal and counter-insurgency force from the existing humongous force of nearly 270 battalions. The alleged connivance of a CRPF DIG in selling of ammunition to the Naxalites has only made matters worse.
